World of My Own
by TendingTheRabbits
Summary: Chapter 1: In order to escape her boring and painful world, Alice doesn't take her pills and finds her way into her wonderland. In her own world Alice figures out what's wrong in her life that she left behind.
1. Chapter 1

A World of My Own

Chapter 1:

"Alice, open your mouth.", said the painfully boring Lady in her painfully boring white robe. I crossed my arms tightly and focused my attention at the blue birds dancing outside my window. The Lady tapped her foot impatiently. "Now! Open your mouth, Alice." She said again. Her dark eyes darted sharply and met mine. I sighed and opened my mouth in defeat. "Good girl." She placed the two white pills on my tongue and handed me a glass of water. "Swallow". I gulped down a few sips. "Open". I showed her my mouth. She smiled, "Good, now get changed into this dress." She handed me a sky blue gown with lace trimmed around the edges. I took it from her eagerly and ran the velvety fabric through my fingers. The Lady's unsettling eyes looked me up and down disapprovingly. "And please, brush your hair too? _You have a very important date_—your parents are visiting."

I turned away from her. "I don't want to see them."

"Alice, please just get dressed, _you don't want to be late_."

A monotone voice buzzed and mumbled over the loudspeakers, and the Lady gave me one final glance before turning away quickly. She shut and bolted my door behind her before sprinting down the hall towards the north wing.

"Finally." I spit the two pills out from under my tongue onto the tiled floor. "No more of these for me!" I said happily, as I kicked and sent them spiraling under my bed. That should fix everything soon. I unbuttoned my off-white gown, and shimmied it onto the floor. "Finally, some color" I said, as I admired my beautiful new blue dress. I stepped into it carefully, gently put my arms through its sleeves, and finally tied the satin blue ribbon tightly in the back_. There are no mirrors in here, but I bet it brings out my blue eyes_, I mused, as I twirled and twirled around in the beautiful new gown. I skipped to my window and grinned wildly at the birds. I held onto the bars and screamed, "Look birds! Look at me! Look how darling I look in my new dress!" They chirped and chirped but didn't say a word. Two robins chased each other and landed together on the oak's branches. "What do you think of my new dress Mr. and Mrs. Bird?" I asked them still grinning. The birds chirped loudly and flew away from the tree all in an instant. They left me completely and utterly alone.

I turned from the window and slid down the cement wall onto the floor. A tear swelled up in my eye, and a terrible knot formed in my throat. Ever since I've been sent to this awful place, the birds haven't been talking to me, the flowers haven't been dancing, and even the squirrels haven't been whispering sweet secrets to me. The Lady here says medicine helps me not see these "hallucinations." But these "hallucinations" are real as can be, and they're meant to be seen! "Where did my world go?" I asked aloud burying my head in my hands. My world was colorful and wonderful, and now it's depressing, cold, boring, and blindingly white. I'll give anything to get it back. The florescent light buzzed loudly above me and light footsteps stopped in front of my door. "Alice, you're parents are waiting for you in the courtyard. Are you ready to go outside?" "I'm ready."


	2. Chapter 2

A World of My Own

Chapter 2:

I stepped outside the building with the Lady at my side. "Alice! My baby!" My mother called. I saw her curly blonde hair bounce crazily in the wind as she ran up and hugged me tightly. "Oh, Alice!" She said as she kissed my forehead. My father walked up to us meekly and slowly wrapped his arms around me and swayed. "We've missed you so, so, much Alice, dear.", He said. My mother ran her fingers through my knotty golden hair. "How are you, sweetie?" she asked. "We miss you so much". I looked into their searching, worried blue eyes and said coldly,

"I hate it here, and you wouldn't have missed me if you didn't leave me in such an awful place!"

The Lady blushed slightly, and I instantly saw the hurt in my mother's eyes. "When you're better, Alice, then you can come home with us," said my father calmly.

"Yes, we love you so much but until you're better you cannot come home." My mother said, holding back tears. "No. I don't want to be "better", I hate it here, and hate you for sending me here all alone!" I screamed. I broke away from their embrace and began to walk towards the courtyard garden that I had only admired from my window. "Oh, Alice, no!" My mother reached out to grab me. I stomped and stomped away. "Just let her go, she just needs to be left alone right now." I heard my father assure. "Give her time to calm down" the Lady said as she began to walk behind me. My mother started to sob so I began to run faster and faster towards the garden.

"Alice!" the Lady called out. "Leave me alone." I said, brushing away the tears that fell quickly from my eyes. I began to run even faster. They abandoned me for months, they dropped me off in such a miserable place, and worst of all they took away my world from me. _My_ world to call my own, not theirs! Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably as I approached the garden. I knelt down and crawled into the high grasses and sunflowers. Hidden away in the shadows of the grass I finally felt free and safe from them, from everything! "Alice? Come out, we're sorry!" My mother's voice called from a distance. "No!" I screamed, crawling deeper and deeper into the grass. "Alice! Come out! You can't tread in the garden!" said the Lady worryingly.

I crawled and crawled further in the grasses, until I was certain that they couldn't get to me. I sat there silently , hugging my knees as I listened to my parents calling my name. This should show them.

The sun's golden rays slowly peaked through the stems and warmed my face. I heard bugs buzzing and birds singing sweetfully. "Alice! Come out this instant!" the Lady called. I picked a daisy and smelled it, twirling it with my fingers. It was then that I felt a familiar strangeness, that I haven't felt in a while. I let out a sigh of relief, and laid down comfortably on my back. "Alice, don't make me come in after you!" The Lady screamed uncomfortably. I managed to let out a giggle as I imagined the Lady crawling through the dirt and grasses. Something snapped loudly behind me. I turned around quickly, completely startled. _Crunch, Crunch, Snap_. I glanced in several directions but I couldn't see anything. "Wh-whoo's there?" I asked, as I brushed some leaves off my blue dress. "Hello?" _Snap, snap, crack._ I started to crawl towards the sound. Something white jumped in front of me and began to sprint away. _What was that?_ "Wait up! Who are you, where are you going?" I asked, crawling towards it. "Can you hear me? Wait up I said!" The white thing turned around and looked at me—it was a rabbit! A rabbit that was wearing a monocle and carrying a large clock around its waist! "Who are you? And where are you going?" I asked bewildered, as I finally caught up to him. The peculiar rabbit stared at me and said, "My name is Mr. Rabbit, and I'm late! Oh! I'm late for a very important date!" He stared at his clock in horror, "No time to say "Hello.", so "Goodbye!", I'm late, I'm late ,I'm late!" Mr. Rabbit waved goodbye and began to run away again. "Wait, late for _what_?" I asked, crawling even faster behind him. He approached a hole in the fence at the end of the garden and gave me a final nod before jumping out. "WAIT, don't leave yet!" I screamed. "Alice, dear ,where are you hiding?" I heard my mother call from within the grasses. I glanced behind once more before crawling through the hole in the fence myself. I was finally leaving my parents and the Lady behind, and entering my much forgotten wonderland.


	3. Chapter 3

I squeezed through the hole in the fence-and instantly fell into a pit of darkness. "AAAAH!" I screamed, as I bumped my head, and scraped my knees. I shrieked, as my blue dress rose over my head, and my stomach dropped almost to the pit. My screams echoed off the walls of the hole several times, and bounced back to me in several voices.

I began to flail my arms violently, as tears fell upward from my face. _This is it_, I thought, _this is where it all ends_. I pushed my dress back down over my head, and strained my eyes to see anything in the blackness.  
From below, a flicker of golden light lit up a tiny room. I let out a shriek and braced myself for the ever approaching landing.  
My blue dress suddenly swayed me back and forth gently before ungracefully dropping me onto the dirt floor. "OOF!" I hit the bottom with a loud thud, and the air in my lungs escaped me. A cloud of dust filled the room in an instant, and I lay there on my stomach gasping for breath.  
"Welcome, dear Alice!" Said a calm voice. I let out a gasp as I lifted my head to a tall figure standing above me.  
"I've been waiting for you, for a while now".  
The shadowy figure turned around and walked towards a small table in the center of the room.  
"W-who are you?" I asked, scrambling to my bloody knees.  
"I know who I am, but the question we need to answer is- _who are you_?"

The dark figure grabbed the candle off the small table, and knelt down beside me. The golden flames danced off every feature on his face and I could finally see what he looked like. He had purple crazy eyes, and strong dark circles. He had a thin nose and sharp lips. His eyebrows seemed to twitch crazily with every word he spoke. He was wearing a top hat, ripped and torn around the edges, and a purple shirt that was entirely too small for him.

"You know who I am apparently! _SO WHO ARE YOU_?" I asked again fearfully, crawling away from the strange boy.  
I looked around desperately for an escape, but there none but the hole I fell in, miles and miles up above my head.

"I'm Mad." He said in his raspy voice. He crawled up beside me once more.

"And so are you."

I crossed my arms tightly and gave him a crossed look. "Enough of these sick games!"  
The Mad man looked surprisingly regretful and inched up closer to me apologetically.  
"Erm, such a pretty girl, in such a pretty dress." He said, as his eyes unknowingly looked me up and down.  
"Ugh! Keep your eyes off me!" I said defensively, pulling the velvet fabric lower over my legs.  
"Oh! Sorry, Alice, dear, I, uh, was just trying to be polite, and to uh, apologize."  
I studied him for a second, the way his violet eyes glimmered nervously in the light, and how his angular arms fidgeted slightly. _Who is he? Where am I? How does he know my name? _My heart was beating too fast for me to think clearly so I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes.  
"I was on my way to Wonderland, this isn't Wonderland so- where am I? And once again, _who are you_?" I opened my eyes to watch the boy relax and lean back on the dirt wall.  
"You can call me the Mad Hatter." He extended his slender hand towards mine, and I shook it hesitantly.

"Alice." I confirmed.  
"We aren't in Wonderland right yet, love, we're in Mr. Rabbit's hole." He scratched his chin. "He was supposed to lead you here to keep you safe, so I could fill you in." the Mad Hatter looked at me for a reaction. I shot him a confused glance.  
"Fill me in on what?"  
"How can I explain this—ehm, without you, Wonderland wouldn't exist. You know…because we live in your head and all…" His big eyes looked at my head uneasily before continuing, "You left Wonderland for a while, and while you were gone you were sad, miserable really, and Wonderland grew in turmoil as well."

He gulped loudly, "You see, Wonderland is greatly paralleled from the life you are living or the life that you leave behind." I nodded slowly, thinking of how I spent all of my time in the hospital self-loathing, lonely, and depressed.  
"In order to bring your Wonderland back, you must find _who you are_, and figure out how to stop what's troubling you in your life."  
He scratched his wiry brown hair under his hat, and let out a deep sigh. His purple eyes mellowed and a sweet grin softened his face as he looked at me. "Long story short, only _you_ can fix these things that went wrong in _your_ head, only _you_ can save us all." _Save who all_? I thought. _Save from what?_ I had so many questions that I couldn't even bear to begin!  
I looked at the sunken eyes of the Mad Hatter and seemed to forget them all. I scooted next to him slowly and held his quivering hand. "I'll fix this, I'll fix whatever happened to the place that I had known and loved dearly." I reminisced quickly about the wonderful creatures I had met and befriended in my paradise.  
His wide eyes glanced over at mine quickly and his hand held onto my hand tightly in return.  
"All that matters is that you're back where you belong-here" The Mad Hatter said softly. "Don't worry. I'll fix it all" I said, mostly to myself.  
"I'm assigned to be your guide into the new Wonderland, love." He said eagerly. "I'll protect you and show you the way. We'll fix it all- _together_."  
The Mad Hatter smile and tipped his torn top hat at me, "Shall we get on our way then, Alice?" "Yes, let's get on our way."


End file.
